Sorry, I am sure this has been discussed multiple, multiple times. I am not too tech savy so if you could explain it like I am 5, I'd appreciate it!

I have an Apple TV 3, and am trying to have it be my home theater media center. I have a bunch of DVDs ripped to either a videots folder, or saved as a .iso file. Which settings do I need to use on handbrake to have it be the best picture, and best sound? I would like to preserve true 5.1 surround sound as well. Also, file size is not really important (I plan on having several external hard drives to store everything and then everything imported into Itunes).

I have seen so much conflicting information on what to set the handbrake settings to. Any info to straighten this out is much appreciated!

I have an Apple TV 3, and am trying to have it be my home theater media center. ... Which settings do I need to use on handbrake to have it be the best picture, and best sound? I would like to preserve true 5.1 surround sound as well. Also, file size is not really important (I plan on having several external hard drives to store everything and then everything imported into Itunes).

I use the Apple TV3 preset. However I modify the preset settings slightly. I decrease the RF Quality setting from 20 to 19 or so. Decreasing this number increases the quality of the final video, so it also increases the space taken up by the video and possibly the processing time. The RF setting numbers are logarithmic, so the change from 20 to 19 is actually significant. At this setting I am finding that the output video takes up nearly 1 GB per hour of video. You can try this yourself and see if you think the change in final video quality is worth it.

Is that the best quality though? I have done that for several movies, and the picture looks pretty bad. If I am ripping from an .iso, shouldn't the quality be preserved? Also, this doesn't seem to keep dolby digital intact. Or if it does, how do I access the audio tracks it on the apple tv?

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Originally Posted by andyfu

I use the Apple TV3 preset. However I modify the preset settings slightly. I decrease the RF Quality setting from 20 to 19 or so. Decreasing this number increases the quality of the final video, so it also increases the space taken up by the video and possibly the processing time. The RF setting numbers are logarithmic, so the change from 20 to 19 is actually significant. At this setting I am finding that the output video takes up nearly 1 GB per hour of video. You can try this yourself and see if you think the change in final video quality is worth it.

Ah ok! So for framerate, do you leave "same as source" or something else? I will try messing with the RF settings and see what that does. Also, do you know what the audio settings should be to preserve the 5.1 surround?

Leave the audio the same is it is for the atv 3 preset. that includes a second AC 3 5.1 track (provided the source has it) for the atv 3 to use. In regard to RF value, for dvd I'd bump it up as said to 19 if you don't like the default 20. for HD sources 20 should be fine. Note that a lower RF (Higher Quality) will result in a higher bitrate / larger file which may or may not stream as well depending on your network.

If you want the best possible audio/video quality, the best way to achieve this is to "remux" instead of re-encode. remuxing essentially copies the video files directly and puts it into mp4 format instead of mkv.

For DVDs, the best way to do this is to use MakeMKV to rip them, then use Subler to remux the resulting file. Subler will also re-encode your audio to put into formats the Apple TV can recognize.

To explain further, lets take this example. You have a document in Microsoft Word you need to have on both yellow and white paper. There are technically two ways to do this.

Way 1 (re-encoding with handbrake):

1. Print the document on white paper
2. Scan your document into a scanner
3. Reprint off the scanned document through a printer

This way will of course work, however you will lose quality through the scanning and reprinting process. This is unavoidable and will always result in degradation of the original source.

This is obviously completely unrealistic as a physical example, but work with me here. This would preserve the original quality of the document, and change the paper to yellow as is needed. You would have the same original document and same quality, and no degradation would be caused from scanning the document.

I hope this answers your question, and helps with what you want to do.

Also, there is nothing horribly wrong with using Handbrake, but if you want the best quality you can get, this is the way to do it.

EDIT: Dont listen to me I'm wrong =]

The above is great for if you decide to move on to ripping Blu Rays though.

Leave the audio the same is it is for the atv 3 preset. that includes a second AC 3 5.1 track (provided the source has it) for the atv 3 to use. In regard to RF value, for dvd I'd bump it up as said to 19 if you don't like the default 20. for HD sources 20 should be fine. Note that a lower RF (Higher Quality) will result in a higher bitrate / larger file which may or may not stream as well depending on your network.

Do this. Although he doesn't publicise it, dynaflash is one of the Handbrake developers so he knows what he's talking about.